Greek 'Pay as You Go' Data sim card

[monte]

Most countries we insert the data sim in an iPhone. Often the sales people think it won't work and needs to be in an iPad or dongle, but it ALWAYS works. We then have data and Skype while out and about and use it in personal hotspot mode to share on board.
Often the companies also state it can't be used as a hotspot or for VoIP calls such as Skype, but again, it always works.

[Alenka]

That's worth taking note of.

From July of next year (or thereabouts) roaming in Europe will be abolished and costs will be the same as for use in your home (european) country.
Seemingly the EU are fed up with phone companies ripping people off and the practice is stiffling investment in the industry.

4G is now far more common in Africa than in the Euro zone.

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Alenka

That's worth taking note of.



From July of next year (or thereabouts) roaming in Europe will be abolished and costs will be the same as for use in your home (european) country.

Seemingly the EU are fed up with phone companies ripping people off and the practice is stiffling investment in the industry.



4G is now far more common in Africa than in the Euro zone.

Absolute rot. Currently 4g in Europe is expected to hit 5% by end 2014 and 30% by 2020. Africa ( including Middle East btw ) is currently less then .5% and expected to be 5-7% by 2020 ( source statisica.com)

4G is in fact not an indication of anything

Dave

[Alenka]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Absolute rot. Currently 4g in Europe is expected to hit 5% by end 2014 and 30% by 2020. Africa ( including Middle East btw ) is currently less then .5% and expected to be 5-7% by 2020 ( source statisica.com)

4G is in fact not an indication of anything

Dave

Ohh.. So the business editor of the Daily Telegraph is wrong. I will let him know if I bump into him!!

[NornaBiron]

In defence of Cosmote:

We purchased a PAYG sim on Symi last week. The guy in the shop was not at all helpful but once we got back to the boat and fitted the sim to our mifi the process to unlock and get going was very simple. We had to go out again to buy €30 of credit from the kiosk and then put this on our account. Once done we were able to purchase 5Gb/30 days coverage very simply.

In order to find cosmote you need to look for 'Germanos' or a multi network shop.

We tried a Wind sim the week before, the guy in the shop was the most unhelpful it is possible to be and the coverage was terrible. We haven't tried Vodafone.

We have good coverage even in a remote anchorage

[Alenka]

Originally Posted by NornaBiron

In defence of Cosmote:

We purchased a PAYG sim on Symi last week. The guy in the shop was not at all helpful but once we got back to the boat and fitted the sim to our mifi the process to unlock and get going was very simple. We had to go out again to buy €30 of credit from the kiosk and then put this on our account. Once done we were able to purchase 5Gb/30 days coverage very simply.

In order to find cosmote you need to look for 'Germanos' or a multi network shop.

We tried a Wind sim the week before, the guy in the shop was the most unhelpful it is possible to be and the coverage was terrible. We haven't tried Vodafone.

We have good coverage even in a remote anchorage

Are you using an unlocked mifi device? I was told there is no way to unlock the sim on the Cosmote device and I needed an unlocked mobile phone to do it.

I have to agree the coverage is very good and hardly ever loses the signal but as you point out customer service is terrible. I cannot remember ever walking into a mobile phone shop elsewhere and not had sales people falling over themselves to sell me something.

I return to the boat in a couple of weeks and the girls in the chandlers say they will try and track down my account and top me up so I don't have to go hunting for another Germanos/Cosmote shop.

Personally, I have always been against wifi extenders. Somehow it doesn't feel right to use someones free wifi when I am not a paying cutomer in their coffee shop, but had I known about the effort required to use mifi in Greece I might have reconsidered.

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by Alenka

Are you using an unlocked mifi device? I was told there is no way to unlock the sim on the Cosmote device and I needed an unlocked mobile phone to do it.

I have to agree the coverage is very good and hardly ever loses the signal but as you point out customer service is terrible. I cannot remember ever walking into a mobile phone shop elsewhere and not had sales people falling over themselves to sell me something

We are using an unlocked mifi that we were given when we had a Wind contract last year.

We've had a few incidents with Germanos/Cosmote customer service. One guy told us that the head office had not e-mailed about our account whilst I was standing looking at the said e-mail! If you can get help from a Greek speaking person it all becomes much easier!

[glkap]

It's quite long time since last post in the current discussion, but I'd like to inform you about WiZiFi service currently offered in Greece, including rental of 4G MiFi device and "unlimited" Internet access, charged in daily basis.
In fact FUP is applied allowing full 4G speed for up to 1 GB per day, reducing the connection speed for the rest of the day, when volume limit is exceeded. Still connectivity is available at throttled speed. Everyday at midnight the speed is recovered to 4G.
MiFis and data SIM cards could be ordered online, or through their partners across Greece, and they are delivered at any address in Greece including hotels, enterprises, or apartments. Customers can also pick-up and drop-offtheirpackages from/at more than 180 PDPs (pick-up/drop-off points) across the country.
WiZiFi MiFi offers 4G/LTE Internet access up to 150 Mbps and allow to connect up to 10 devices for more than 10 hours of operation. The MiFi is easily fully recharged in about 2 hours. Optionally power bank battery and car charger could be rent extending outdoor life time.
Check their website wizifi.eu for applied daily rates.